The Distillers' Brody Dalle is probably capable of fighting her own battles, but it must be comforting for her to know that her boyfriend, Josh Homme, takes abuse towards women very, very seriously.

In fact, the Queens Of The Stone Age frontman told BBC Radio 1 Wednesday that he fired the band's bassist, Nick Oliveri, after discovering Oliveri had physically abused his girlfriend (or so Homme alleges).

Homme said he first confronted Oliveri about it after hearing rumours about his behaviour a few years ago. He told the bassist, "'If I ever find out that this is true, I can't know you, man.' Because music and my life are the same thing, there's no rules until something massive happens."

Oliveri was booted from the rock band in February '04. At the time, Homme blamed the split on numerous, undisclosed incidents. He later said he was fed up with always having to clean the messes Oliveri left behind. Homme told the BBC firing Nick was his "statement."

Since that time, fans of the Queens have urged Homme to invite Oliveri back to the band, something he said he would never do. "[The fans] don't understand what it’s like to just sit there and feel helpless," Homme said. "If you're trying to be good about something and everybody else around you isn’t, what do you do? Do you fight with fire or sit there and burn?"

He spoke of an incident involving Oliveri in England with QOTSA vocalist Mark Lanegan, when "something happened again, and he almost didn't make it out of the country. That's not music anymore," Homme said.

The singer got into a fight with Dwarves singer Blag Dahlia, a close friend of Oliveri's, last November and was recently sentenced to anger management, rehab and three years' probation.